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Jason Bell

Vice President for Conservation and Animal Welfare

Jason leads strategy and operations for IFAW’s programmatic campaigns and international operations. The VP provides strategic guidance and direction to ensure the effective implementation of IFAW’s priority campaigns and programs across the organization.

Previously, Jason was the Regional Director, Southern Africa and Director of IFAW’s Elephants Program, which has since evolved to be IFAW’s Landscape Conservation Program. More recently, he served as the Vice President for International Operations, working with offices around the world to implement IFAW’s mission globally.

Under Jason’s leadership, IFAW has worked to secure habitat for elephants in Southern and East Africa, as well as India and China. He has also been involved in elephant translocation projects, in one case moving an entire herd of 83 elephants from an area in the Phirilongwe region, Malawi where they were in constant violent conflict with local villages. He has also worked to ensure that the South African Government changed its approach to elephant management from one focused on managing elephant numbers with resultant culling, to a more scientifically sound approach focused on spatial management of elephant populations.

Jason believes that you cannot achieve impact for wild and community animals without the necessary support and buy-in of local people, and while leading IFAW Southern Africa he worked to engage communities as a critical part of both conservation and animal welfare impact.

Jason also has a very keen interest in politics and advocacy, which stems from his work as a political campaigner during his graduate studies at the University of Pretoria. He is particularly interested in the nexus between science, politics and wildlife protection.

Background

Researcher, University of Pretoria

Education:

Bachelor of Science, Zoology, University of Pretoria
Honors Degree, Ecology, University of Pretoria